Improvement in adjustable reclining-chairs



A. eAPP.

Adjustable Reel irs.

ining -Gha Patented Nov. 24,1874.

yUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUGUSTUS EAPP, 0F ELMIEA, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN ADJUSTABLE RECLlNlNG-CHAIRS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 157,081, dated November 2i, 1574; application filed March 20, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, AUGUSTUS RAPP, of Elmira, in the county of Chemung and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Adjustable Chairs, of which the following is a specification:

This invention relates to a new and useful improvement in adjustable chairs, particularly adapted to sleeping and drawing room coaches of' railways; and consists of such a combination of devices that the chairback can be tipped backward or reclined at the will of the occupant, so as to form any desired inclination with the seat, the arms of the chair at the same time, by reason of their attachment to the back, being carried upward and backward, while the seat retains its original position.

The object of this invention is to afford a cheap, simple, and easy method of so adjusting the chair-back to the seat that the position of the occupant may be more or less reclined, while the arms of the chair, being carried backward as the back is reclined, will afford a convenient and easy resting-place for the arms of the occupant.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the chair, the continuous lines showing the chair in an upright position, and the broken lines the back, when itis reclined at varying angles with the seat. Fig.2 represents a front elevation of the same, with the seat in section, on the line of the connecting-rod, to show the operation of the devices hereinafter described.

In the iigures, A represents the chair-back. B represents the chair-seat. represents the pivot-rod,which enters a corresponding socket in the standard D, and permits the upper part ofthe chair to revolve around the pivot-rod as a center. E represents one of the hinges, by means of which the back and seat are attached, and, while holding them together at this point, permits the back to be reclined at any desired angle with the seat. a represents a sector, having its upper end iirmly attached to the arm of the chair, and provided with a series of notches along its interior edge, formed as shown in the drawin-g. This sector is free to move and down in a mortise formed in the seat directly underneath the point of its attachin ent to the arm. b represents a lever attached to the spindle n, and placed on the side of the chair contiguous to the plate. c represents a hook, also attached to the spindle n, and having its upper part or head in contact with the spring t". d represents a connectingrod, the ends of which are square, and are itted into the corresponding mortises in the spindles in the opposite sides of the chair. g. represents a stop-pin in the lower end of' the sector, which, by striking against the shoulder projecting into the mortise near its upper end, prevents the sector from being carried entirely through the seat, and thus arrests the backward movement of the chair-back. ff are the chair-back standards.- arms of the chair.

In Fig. l the parts represented by a, c, f,.g,

h, i, and E have duplicates on the opposite side of the chair, and are shown in Fig. 2, eX- cept t and E.

In Fig.2 a n represent the spindles to which the lever b and the hooks c c are attached, and into which the ends of the connecting-rod enter. These spindles afi'ord a convenient means of adjusting the hooks in their proper position, inasmuch as the hooks can be applied to the spindles, and then these, together with the outside plate, pnt into their proper position, and, after the spindle, with its hook, has been applied to one side of the chair, the connecting-rod may be introduced from the opposite side, and the corresponding spindle, with its hook, plate, and lever attached, may be applied to that side.

It will be perceived that the operation of the devices would be the same substantially were the spindles omitted and the hooks attached directly to the connecting-rod, one end of the connecting-rod having its bea-rin g in the outside plate, and the other terminated by the lever b, the spindles serving chiefly as an easy method of adjusting the hooks in their positions.

The standard D being Screwed or otherwise fastened to the door of the car, and the upper portion of the chair placed in position bypassing the pivot-pin into the socket of the support, the chair is ready for use. It is operated as follows: Suppose the chair to be in an upright position, as indicated in the figures by l1, h are the the continuous lines7 and the occupant to press the end of the lever b downward. This will cause the spindle with which the lever b is directly connected to turn backward, while the connecting-rod, by reason of its attachment to the spindles; will turn with the spindle, and communicate the same movement to the spindle upon the opposite side of the chair. The hooks, being rmly attached to the spindles, will pass backward with them, and their heads will be released from the sector-notches, in which they rested, and forced back against their respective springs. The back and arms of the chair are now free to move backward, and the sectors to move upward in their mortises until the upward movement is arrested by the contact of the pins in the free ends of the sectors against the shoulders projecting into the mortises near their upper ends. This backward movement can be arrested at any intermediate point between the upright position and the greatest recline by simply removin g the pressure from the lever, when the compressed springs will immediately act upon the heads of the hooks and force them into their adjacent notches in the sectors, and at the same time the spindles and the connectingrod will be turned forward and the lever upward to their first positions.

When the chair-back is reclined at any angle with the seat, and the occupant desires to bring it nearer or into the upright position7 he can do so by simply pressing downward upon the armsof the chair without touching the lever, the construction of the heads of the hooks and the notches being such that the hooks will slide from notch to notch under such downward pressure until the desired point is reached.

What is claimed as new isl. The combination of the lever b, the connecting-rod d, the hooks c c at either end of the connecting-rod, and the notched sectorplates, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The combination of the hooks c c, the notched sector-plates, and the springs acting` against the hooks, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. The combination of the lever b, the connecting-rod d, and the spindles n n, substantially as and for the purpose described.

A. RAPP.

Witnesses:

Roer. H. DUNCAN, HENRY SEIDLER. 

